Early Cinema & Sound.

The Impact Sound Had On Early Cinema

Before the modern cinema, the use of sound in films did no exist, the first real use of sound in early cinema was in 1927 ( Warner Bros) however prior to this there were many other steps to add sound to motion pictures. As time went on and new processes came into the spotlight in films it was a film produced in 1926 that used a method called 'vita phone. It was said that during the transition to sound in cinema, early sound shorts increased in importance and consequently received more and more attention and praise than short films had enjoyed in the late silent era.

   There were problems however as the business of film transitioned from early cinema to the modern cinema we know of now, this being because cinemas whom were built and had the intention for silent films had not bought the suitable sound systems to support sound coming into films, consequently making them go out of business. As well as literal barriers ( incorrect equipment) there was also physical language barriers, this is when the use of subtitles were introduced and have been used in films ever since 1932.

    On the contrary to this adaptation for everyone, difficulties also occurred for the film makers and actors, this being because microphones at the time were insensitive and hard to move and the first microphones were known as 'omnidirectional' meaning they would pick up ANY noise on set making it even more difficult for film makers. In addition to this it was also difficult to dub audio and actors in which were used to silent acting for films struggled to cope with the concept of audio being used.

      By adding audio to films it can also help and create jobs that never used to exist, and the introduction to sound in cinemas gave African Americans a bigger opportunity to work in Hollywood and film making industries, despite that during this time prejudice and racism was still prominent. As we skip forward to 2016 sound is mandatory in films all around the world. Sound is mixed and created for every scene of every film, every little detail makes a noise and we can now refer to particular uses of audio by ' Diegetic and non diegetic'.

    In a previous lesson we went over the terms diegetic and non diegetic, diegetic meaning sounds that characters hear, for example in Jaws , the characters and audience can hear the splashes of water and people talking etc, non diegetic refers to the sounds characters do not hear, but we as the audience do, like the music in Jaws for example. Lastly is internal diegetic sound, meaning inside a characters head (thoughts) in which both the character and audience can hear